Wedding of Oprah Correspondent and National Geographic Channel Host Lisa Ling
When Lisa Ling, host of National Geographic Channel's Explorer and Correspondent for the Oprah Winfrey Show decided to get married to Dr. Paul Song, they turned to Empire Entertainment and Empire's Los Angeles partner, Pinnacle Event Design & Production, to bring their wedding vision to life.The weddding would be non-traditional and would reflect the youth and vibrancy, as well as the Asian heritages of the couple.The wedding took place in the Main Hall of Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles.
The evening began with a brief ceremony on the South Patio for which Brandon Yip played acoustic guitar and rang the large gong to begin the ceremony. At the conclusion of the ceremony the sounds of Tupak Shakur's "California Love" were played for the recessional. Next the 525 guests proceeded into the main hall in which Empire had designed and installed a grand, Asian-themed environment in red, black and gold. In the center of the room long aircraft cables suspended between tall lighting towers suspended a series of large red lanterns across the dance floor. Underneath these lanterns were banks of red and black ottomans, surrounded by a sea of cabaret tables and high tops with matching linens and florals rounded out the room. Throughout the venue, food was served by four Asian restaurants set up in themed stations - Japanese Sushi, Korean Barbecue, Chinese dim sum and dumplings. Like the rest of the room, all food stations were designed in red, gold and black. Bars were set up to serve through the existing teller windows throughout the venue.
After toasts and speeches that included a karaoke duet by the couple on the Sonny & Cher classic "I've Got You Babe," a large gong was sounded and DJ David Chang led the audience with dance music ranging from hip hop and rock to funk and soul for the remainder of the night.
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
